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Machine Pre-Stretching

Q: Can you give me any information on pre-stretching string? I just got my first electronic stringer, a Prince 3000, and it has a function to pre-stretch string. A few of the people I string for are very powerful players (5.0+) and go through strings pretty quickly. A lot of them use polyester string so it rarely breaks, but it seems to lose tension and die pretty quickly, so they wind up replacing it regularly anyway. I was thinking that machine pre-stretching might extend the string life.

A: To some extent you are attempting to square the circle. The reason that pre-stretching — by machine or by hand — works is that it straightens out the molecules in the string. Typically, the straighter these molecules are, the less elasticity remains in the string, and the stiffer the stringbed. In effect, you are pre-deadening the string by pre-stretching. Therefore, pre-stretching does allow you to maintain the installed tension of strings better, and reduce tension loss. At the same time, though, it decreases what players often refer to as power, touch, and/or feel. It’s worth a try, however, as your customers may prefer the feel of the racquet when the strings are pre-stretched, and by eliminating some of the tension loss, they won’t feel that they have to restring as often, barring breakage.

From the January 2005 issue
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